Donald Glover and James Earl Jones Cast in LION KING Reboot

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Donald Glover may have taken off some time from the big screen to focus on his music and brilliant new television series, but with upcoming roles in Spider-Man: Homecoming and the Han Solo prequel, the actor once known for his adorable turn on Community is certainly making up for lost time! And thank goodness for that.

Hot off his Golden Globe wins for Atlanta, Glover is making the jump from playing young Lando Calrissian in a galaxy far far away to a lost lion cub in Disney’s live-action Lion King reboot. The film’s director, Jon Favreau, announced the news Friday via Twitter, sharing:

But that’s not all. A few minutes after that announcement, Favreau added that James Earl Jones, the legendary actor who voiced Simba’s father Mufasa in the original Lion King, will be back to reprise his role in the reboot as well.

When the news about Glover’s casting first broke, we thought to ourselves, “But who will play Mufasa? James Earl Jones’ portrayal is so iconic.” Apparently Favreau feels the same, and we couldn’t be more excited to see who else joins the cast. And though we don’t know much about this new version of The Lion King, we can assume that it will at least bear some resemblance to Favreau’s groundbreaking take on The Jungle Book. The “live-action” reboot used motion-capture and state of the art visual effects to reimagine one of Disney’s greatest animated stories (complete with the original music) to great critical and audience acclaim, and was a box office bonanza to boot.

While we are understandably (but notaggressively) wary for any reboot of a beloved childhood film, The Jungle Book was inventive, heartfelt, and a visual masterpiece. Time will only tell if all of Disney’s live-action remakes are worth the effort (fingers crossed, Beauty and the Beast fans!) but we are hopeful that Favreau will do The Lion King justice as well.

What do you think about this casting news? Who else would you like to see join the reboot? Who will voice Scar?? Let us know in the comments!